The 57th International Art Exhibition, featuring 85 national pavilions, is on full display inVenice, Italy, until November 26. With the refuge crisis in places such as Syria, and manyleaders advocating nationalism, many of the art exhibits have focused on universalthemes. One such entry is of a group called Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK). Normally, onewould assume that only established sovereign nation-states are allowed to have their ownbooth. But, that NSK has a booth of its own suggests that they are a viable entity. In anycase, the organizers of the event have approved their entry. I looked at the NSK website,and the following is what they claim:

The NSK State was created in 1992 by the groups comprising the Slovenearts collective Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK). Amongst others these includedthe groups Laibach, IRWIN, Noordung, New Collectivism and the Departmentof Pure and Applied Philosophy. Neue Slowenische Kunst was founded inLjubljana in 1984 as socialist Yugoslavia began to fracture. By the end of thatdecade the NSK groups had gained a reputation across Western Europe,America and Japan. NSK works and actions have commented on many of thepolitical events of the last two decades and NSK is now widely acknowledgedto have played a key role in the political and cultural history of Slovenia andformer Yugoslavia, even being credited with playing a role in the pluralisationof society and culture in 1980s Slovenia.

The NSK State was created in the aftermath of Slovene independence. Ithas carried out a series of temporary ‘Embassy’ and ‘Consulate’ events inlocations including Moscow, Ghent, Berlin and Sarajevo plus other collectiveactions. The State is conceived as a utopian formation which has no physicalterritory and is not identified with any existing national state. It is inherentlytransnational and describes itself as ‘the first global state of the universe.’ Itissues passports to anyone who is prepared to identify with its foundingprinciples and citizenship is open to all regardless of national, sexual, religiousor other status. It now has several thousand citizens across numerouscountries and all continents, including a large number in Nigeria. The NSKState itself is a collective cultural work, formed by both the iconography andstatements of its founders and its citizens’ responses to these and to theexistence of the state. It is also part of the wider ‘Micronations’ movementwhich has grown increasingly visible and received growing critical andtheoretical attention in recent years. (http://times.nskstate.com/about-nsk/)As you can see, they mention that they are a utopian state with no borders. Its citizens aremembers of the world, so to speak.

The ambition of the NSK reminds one of Lenin's experiment, which for all practicalpurposes, has been proven to be too pure for the selfish tendencies of humans.Nevertheless, it is interesting if only to imagine whether such a state is possible. The NSKwants us to jettison our ethnic identities. We can all try, but this is not so easy. First of all,what language would we speak? Is there a certain kind of food that we should all like?Which customs should we follow? Their intentions are noble, but would losing one'sethnicity alone deter racial prejudice and war between nations?

I wish that it would. A world without borders would be ideal. It would simplify all ourproblems, would it not? A perfect world where there is no cause for animosity oraggression sounds like a perfect Buddha World, does it not?

What the NSK proposes, however, does not ascribe much confidence in what humansare capable of. It says, let us not even allow a situation in which people are different, sothat we can avoid any perception of inequality. The problem is that if even one person inthis world refuses to envision or embrace this utopia, then this utopia would not beachievable. How would the Buddha see this?

The Buddha begins with the premise that this world and the people in it are less thanperfect. People cannot be expected to think alike or want the same thing. Rather, theBuddha embraces the fact that each individual has unique qualities to offer our society.Different abilities and different personalities are necessary for a well-rounded society. Theissue here is not to compel people to live in a borderless world, but to explore the wisdomof living cooperatively in a messy world with borders. The Buddha would say that ourworld is better because we have challenges. That is, solutions can only be had withconflict. The idea of the NSK is provocative, but it places a mental burden on people toerase physical borders that will never disappear. Even if all physical borders can be torndown, leave it to people to find a reason to constantly create new barriers. What the NSKfails to realize is that the barriers to peace and harmony lie within ourselves. Unless webegin by tearing down the barriers within ourselves, there can be no utopia.(Eisei Ikenaga)